C.S. Lewis Quotes
The Horse and His Boy has been on my top-five book list since I was eight. Since then I have discovered that C. S. Lewis has, not only many beautiful quotes from The Chronicles Of Narnia, but also a wealth of other inspirational quotes about love, faith and life. Here are a few of my favourites, interspersed with plenty of Narnia ones as well.
‘There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.’
– C.S. Lewis, The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
‘Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably.‘
– C.S. Lewis
‘Things never happen the same way twice, dear one.’
– C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian
‘There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.‘
– C.S. Lewis
‘What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.’
– C.S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew
‘Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.‘
– C.S. Lewis
‘Courage, dear heart.’
– C.S. Lewis, The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
‘I hope no one who reads this book has been quite as miserable as Susan and Lucy were that night; but if you have been – if you’ve been up all night and cried till you have no more tears left in you – you will know that there comes in the end a sort of quietness. You feel as if nothing is ever going to happen again.’
– C.S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe
‘Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.‘
– C.S Lewis
‘I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say, but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather, C. S. Lewis.’
– C.S. Lewis’ dedication to his goddaughter in the front of
The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe
‘Girls aren’t very good at keeping maps in their brains,’ said Edmund.
‘That’s because we’ve got something in them,’ replied Lucy.’
– C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian
‘Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say ‘My tooth is aching’ than to say ‘My heart is broken’.’
– C.S. Lewis
‘You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.‘
– C.S. Lewis
‘Lucy woke out of the deepest sleep you can imagine, with the feeling that the voice she liked best in the world had been calling her name.’
– C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian
‘Love is never wasted, for its value does not rest upon reciprocity.‘
– C.S. Lewis
‘One of the most cowardly things ordinary people do is to shut their eyes to facts.’
– C.S. Lewis, The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
‘They turned and saw the Lion himself, so bright, and real, and strong that everything began to look pale and shadowy compared to him.’
– C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair
‘We have nothing, if not belief.’
– C.S. Lewis, Reepicheep, The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader
‘Suppose we have dreamed, or made up all these things – trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play world. I’m on Aslan’s side. Even if there is no Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we’re leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that’s a small loss if the world’s as dull a place as you say.‘
– C.S. Lewis, Puddleglum, The Silver Chair
